acura

* Sorry for the length but please read every word if you are interested. Do not skim. *

### Quick Description

It’s a good car that may or may not need transmission work/replacement. I am personally no longer interested in putting money into the car, so I’m selling it for my own convenience, not because I care about making any money back.

Convenience is my motivation. Keep that in mind as you read the ad. The asking price is $2200 obo.

### Long Description

I financed this car in Austin, Texas in February of 2015, so two and a half years ago. I lived in Austin at the time. I paid a little more for the car than what it was worth because my credit wasn’t A1 and I wasn’t in a position to haggle. But it was still a good car with only minor issues. At the time of purchase, the odometer read: 129,318

For the next 8 months, I drove the car with only minor issues, like the passenger side power window motor dying, for example. That was immediately fixed, along with any other small issues that popped up. ALL work during that 8 month period was done at an Acura dealership in Austin.

After those 8 months, at the very end of September 2015, I hopped in the car and headed west as I permanently moved to San Diego. On day 1 of the drive, I drove it 600 miles from Austin to El Paso, Texas where I rested for the night. No issues. On day 2, I drove it 430 miles from El Paso, Texas to Scottsdale, Arizona where I rested for a few more days. Again, no issues. On day 5, October 1 2015, I drove it the final 370 miles right into downtown San Diego where I now live. The car is currently parked in the same parking spot that I was assigned on that day at my new apartment complex.

The car handled the drive like a champ. There were no issues at all. I was able to resume life in San Diego without the car needing to recover from that 1,400 mile trip. Great.

The car was still registered in Texas at this point. Though I was supposed to register it in California within 30 days, I believe, I didn’t care. I was going to wait until February 2016 when my Texas registration was set to expire. So from October 2015 through February 2016, I drove the car here and there with no issues, but I found myself driving less and less as I got used to living in the heart of the city. I am a software developer who works from home and lives downtown with no wife or children, so I didn’t even need to drive much. I walked almost everywhere (I still do) since everything I need is around me.

While the car was parked and not being driven around the end of 2015, the battery died. I found that strange, because I had actually replaced the battery with a brand new one while living in Texas. I called a service to come jump the battery. Too easy, except for the fact that after not driving the car for another two weeks or so, the battery was dead again. I got another jump, but at this point I started disconnecting the negative battery terminal if I knew I wasn’t going to be driving the car daily. That prevented the battery from dying while it sat, and it always had juice when I’d connect it again to go for a drive. Keep this information in mind.

December of 2015, in an attempt to plan ahead for the California registration I’d need to purchase in February, I took the car in for smog. The car’s computer system had no data. As some of you already know, disconnecting your car battery wipes its driving data clean. That means the smog folks had no solid data to read, and therefore could not properly perform a smog test. At this point, I’m nearing my Texas registration expiration while simultaneously trying to take strategic driving trips to build the computer data back up. Weekly, I’d revisit the smog place and it would never be enough data because I didn’t really have anywhere to drive. Eventually, though, I finally got it, but it was already February!

Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, fail… I had a bad O2 sensor that needed to be replaced before I could pass smog fully. Okay, too easy. “I’ll get that taken care of before the end of February.” Unfortunately, I didn’t have the money to pay for the O2 sensor replacement at the time. Because I didn’t actually need to drive the car anyway, I sat on my hands and just continued to live life without driving. And of course, because I wasn’t driving consistently, I had to disconnect the battery while the car was parked. Bummer.

For those of you putting this story together, yes, I was now in a situation where I would have to pay to replace an O2 sensor, then drive an unregistered car to rebuild the driving data, all for a car I don’t even drive. Long story short, I froze in place for a year… literally a year. I did nothing, because I didn’t need the car anyway. It car sat parked for the most part, besides a few trips around the block just to make sure it was okay. But I made no effort to get it fixed or build driving data. I just continued to pay my cart note.

April of 2017, just over a year later, I decided to finally “take care of this stupid car stuff once and for all.” My financial situation was much better then. One day, while attempting to take the car for a drive the car around the block, what I had been doing maybe once a month for the last year, the car starter failed. I have a history with working on muscle cars (an old hobby) so I had no problems ordering a new starter and changing it in the parking garage. Too easy. That was $280 for the starter itself. Free labor. 🙂

Now that the car could start again, it was time to go get the O2 sensor fixed, FINALLY. Not only did I get the O2 sensor replaced, I spent $2044 to get much more work done. Here’s the full list of April 2017 repairs:

That’s exciting. I picked up the car and it was running like a champ. Engine codes were cleared and the car was in as great of shape as I expected it to be. The battery issue even went away, as far as I could tell (still don’t know what that was about). Now all I have to do is build up that driving data (because the battery was disconnected/replaced during the repair service) and once that’s done, I’d get smog, register the car in California, and simply pay the late fees. I didn’t care… I’d pay whatever to no longer have to think about the car.

For about a week after getting the car back from the shop, I drove it (still unregistered) strategically just to build the data. The car was PERFECT. I did things like drive to Carlsbad and back. After about a week of that, assuming I was good to go with driving data, I returned to the smog place for my first read in over a year. Not enough data! That’s okay, though. They gave me a specific driving pattern to try and I was ready to try it over the next day or so.

AS I WAS LEAVING THE SMOG PLACE to head about a half mile back to my home, I shifted the car into 1st gear (Drive) and drove off… but the car never shifted itself into 2nd gear. 🙁 I was devastated and numb at the same time. Why now? After all of this? I babied the car about 6 city blocks back to my apartment. Parked it. And NEVER drove it again. At this point, May 2017, I still owed $3500 on the car. So I came up with a plan to pay it off. By July 15, I had paid off the remaining $3500 and the car was mine. Paying it off was the first step to getting rid of it. Thanks to an address error by the financial institution that financed the car, and Texas DMV being slow, it took about a month and a half to get my clean title. But on August 30th, I got it in hand, free and clear. Oh happy day.

Now I’m here, September 2nd. I don’t know the extent of the transmission issue. I only experienced it for literally 3 minutes over 6 city blocks. The transmission could need to be replaced (upwards of $2000). It could just need minor work, costing way less than a replacement. Or it could just be some random solenoid that went bad out of nowhere and only cost $100. To be frank, I just don’t give a damn. I don’t want the car anymore, so I couldn’t care less if it’s a $2000 repair or a $20 repair.

The Kelley Blue Book value for a private party sell in Fair condition (see pics for description), the car’s value is about $4200. Since a transmission swap could cost someone $2000, I’m asking $2200. Yes, that means if the actual repair is only $50, you get one hell of a deal… which I don’t mind at all. The current mileage is: 137,095. I’ve only put 7,777 miles on the car in two and a half years.

I’ve included pics of the car (taken September 1 and September 2 of 2017) as well as pics of paperwork to support some of the things mentioned above.

In the name of keeping it 100% real with you, I will also state that I am moving to a new apartment on October 1st (so in about 4 weeks) and I DO NOT want to bring the car with me. So not only am I selling because of the aforementioned experiences, but also because I WILL get rid of this car in some way, shape, or form by September 30th anyway. That’s a fact.

So, shoot your shot. $2200, or best offer.

If you want to repair it, it’s a great car (it really is). If you want to part it out, I bet you could turn a profit. I just don’t want to deal with it anymore. I’ll entertain offers, but I still have enough time on my hands to reject super low-ballers. So let’s communicate.

The car’s basic specs are 3.2L V6 (nice engine), automatic transmission, 18/26 mpg from a 17 gallon tank, 6-disc CD changer, leather seats, seat warmers, power front seats, power windows (the front two are Auto), seat position memory, sunroof that can fully open or just tilt up, I don’t know… just a nice, low-end “luxury” car. It has no major modifications so searching its specs on Google will give you good information.

My phone number is 314-479-9195. You may TEXT me or email me using the Craigslist email system. And if you want to come see the car, contact me and we can arrange that. Keep in mind that if you purchase it, I will advise you, for the aforementioned reasons, to have it towed away instead of driving it away.